Study On The Professional Identity For Primary School English Teachers

As the publication of English Curriculum Standard and Guiding Opinions onEstablishing English lessons actively in Primary Schools by Ministry of Education,primary English teaching in China has been in full operation and entered a wholeadvancement level. Primary school English teachers, the executor of teaching, whoseperformances are directly decisive to the effects of the new curriculum reform andPrimary English teaching. Good professional identity can guarantee high-qualityteaching and high-efficient learning by promoting English teachers in primary school torenew, perfect and develop themselves constantly, keeping positive attitude in teaching,dealing with kinds of contradiction and pressure. However, there is no systematic studyon professional identity of English teacher in primary school. Thus, it is an exploratorytopic to study the current situation about primary English teachers’ professional identity.Primary English teachers’ professional identity is the degree of acceptance andrecognition of the primary English teachers to their careers. And to all aspects of theircareers such as professional value, professional emotion, professional ability,professional will, professional behavior tendency, and professional social status, can beperceived and assessed actively by primary English teachers while at the same timeaccepting their careers as meaningful and worthwhile. Based on previous studies andactual investigations, this paper makes systematic observation about the currentsituation and problems of primary English teachers’ professional identity, discusses theexplicated reasons, and then gives some suggestions. By the questionnaire, interviewand comparative analysis, this paper makes an investigation on the teachers’professional identity of150primary English teachers in35primary schools from mainurban areas and corresponding counties of Chongqing Municipality. The results are asfollowing:(1) As a whole, the level of professional identity of primary English teachers is notenough.(2) As to the professional value identity, professional emotion identity,professional behavior tendency identity and professional social status identity, there aresignificant differences in educational background, income, city/countryside andpart-time/full-time English teachers.(3) As to the professional ability identity andprofessional will identity, there are significant differences in teaching age, educationalbackground, income, city/countryside and part-time/full-time English teachers. There are three main reasons of primary English teachers’ insufficient professional identity,according to the study: low social status, poor working environment and low personalqualities.(1) Low social status: primary English course is little accounted; the welfareand payment of primary is bad.(2) Poor working environment: heavy pedagogical tasksand working pressure, limited instructional resources, poor facilities and difficultprofessional self-development, etc.(3) Low personal qualities: professional ability isunder qualified for primary English teaching, humanistic quality is not fit in primaryEnglish teaching, entry motivation and attitude are not correct, professional ethic isdevoid.According to research results and reflections of current conditions, this paperfinally gives targeted advice on strengthening primary English teachers’ professionalidentity from three aspects: society, school and teachers themselves.(1) Make strictstandard to choose primary English teacher which can guarantee the basic quality ofprimary faulty.(2) Improve primary English teachers’ social status.(3) Carry outhumanistic school management and construct people-oriented school environment.(4)Teachers should seek self-development and self-improvement constantly and firm theirprofessional will.